How to hide ip: Comparing IP Masquerading with Proxy and NAT

Comparing IP Masquerading with Proxy and NAT

Posted: 08 Jul 2011 12:02 AM PDT

NAT (Network Address Translation) is a collection of public IP addresses. Whenever a machine in a network wants to connect to external network then it would use one public IP address from the pool available in the NAT box. Moving forward, all the traffic will seem to originate from the respective public IP address thus masking the originating machine. The public IP address will be returned to free pool of NAT whenever the source machine is idle.

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NAT services are compatible with Solaris, Linux, Windows 95, NT, etc.

Advantages:

Multiple configuration options.
Requires no application software.

Disadvantages:

Requires a subnet mask from the ISP end which could be costly.
Once the free public IP address pool dries up then a new machine won't be able to access external network unless a public IP is available again.

IPMASQ can be tagged as 1:Many form of NAT. Basically, IPMASQ acts as the originating machine for requests thus masking the original source from the external public network.

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IPMASQ is compatible with Linux and couple of ISDN routers.

Advantages:

Requires only one IP address henceforth it is cheap.
Does not require special configuration at application level thus reducing configuration maintenance load.
Uses firewall to provide an extra level of security.

Disadvantages:

Cannot work without a Linux machine. In case Linux machine is not available then IPMASQ compatible router must be available.
Firewall might at times create problems for specific protocols. In such cases an extra functionality namely "firewall redirectors" is used.

Proxy is based on single IP address functionality just like IP MASQ. Basically, proxy acts as translator in a local area network. A proxy server is designed to receive requests from various peers within a network and to push the request to destination location. During this process the proxy server acts as source while sending the request to the destination location thus masking the original source. Lastly, the proxy server routes the received reply back to originating machine without revealing the originating machine to the public network.

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Proxy services are compatible with Solaris, Linux, Windows 95, NT, etc.

Advantages:

Uses just one IP address henceforth it is cheap.
Gives the option of caching for enhanced performance in a network.

Disadvantages:

Could end up mixing packets thus generating confusing statistics at network level.
All applications within the network must be configured to use proxy servers in order to access external network via the proxy server. Slight miss in configuration will break the link between the application and proxy server. This is where IPMASQ takes lead over Proxy as in case of IPMASQ no configuration settings are required at peer level.

Salman Siddiqui is an expert technology analyst. His vast experience of freelance writing is backed by his passion to swim against the tide. You can grab him on Twitter.

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Comparing IP Masquerading with Proxy and NAT